The Urban TABBY is customizable, with customers encouraged to modify it using conventional or new technologies such as 3-D printing. Developer OSVehicle provides free downloads of the vehicle’s 3-D design specs....More

Toyota is refining its manufacturing practices to again ensure quality. New Managing Director Naomi Ishii has started the process for rapid localization of parts and is working to choose the right models in the right segments....More

The solar panels will provide up to 10% of all the electricity required for manufacturing at the site, which makes gasoline and hybrid engines for Avensis and Auris models sold throughout Europe....More

BMW reportedly is leading the development of the cars’ chassis, banking on its experience with aluminum, carbon fiber and high-strength steel to create a lighter and stiffer composite body structure, while Toyota is focusing on high-performance hybrid technology....More

Using ultra-high-strength steel can save 88 lbs. on a typical body, and adding aluminum can double that to 187 lbs. But the last improvement comes from the carbon-fiber panels, the automaker finds....More

Robots on the shop floor already talk to each other. That idea will grow so machines around the world in different companies working together will talk to each other, working out the most efficient way to produce goods, a Plex executive says....More

The Henry Ford in Dearborn will host this weekend’s celebration of creativity in parts of the museum and adjacent parking lot. The family-friendly festival is like a traveling circus, highlighting the works of local tinkerers at each stop....More